Yesterday saw the successful and historic launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket boosting the Dragon cargo capsule into orbit. After orbiting the Earth and performing several manoeuvring tests the Dragon capsule executed a de-orbit burn and successfully re-entered the atmosphere and splashed down into the Pacific Ocean. The whole flight from launch to splashdown took just under 3 hours 20 minutes.
This was an incredible mission which managed to perform 100% of it’s milestones and targets, despite an expectation of 60-70% prior to launch. There were a number of firsts on this launch, the most notable was the fact that this was the first (Commercial Orbital Transport Services) COTS mission, and the first commercial spacecraft to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land.
Youtube: Our launch day video